People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)

Signatures and flowers cover the white table where Alton Sterling sold CDs from outside the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge, Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Alton Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart Tuesday July 5. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People watch video of the shooting of Alton Sterling at the Triple S Food Mart where people gathered to show their support for Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

Veda Washington, the aunt of Alton Sterling, is overcome with emotion as people gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

Veda Washington, the aunt of Alton Sterling, is overcome with emotion as people gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

Veda Washington, the aunt of Alton Sterling, is overcome with emotion as people gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

People pray together as they gather at the Triple S Food Mart to show their support for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge Police at the food mart on Tuesday (July 5). (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
(BRETT DUKE)

Two white
Baton Rouge
police officers involved in the
shooting death of Alton Sterling
, the African American whose killing sparked citywide protests last summer, won't be prosecuted on federal charges, three national news media reported Tuesday (May 2). Now the decision on whether to bring state charges falls to Louisiana Attorney General
Jeff Landry
.

The U.S. Justice Department's decision not to charge officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake with violating Sterling's civil rights concludes an investigation requested by Louisiana Gov.
John Bel Edwards
after Sterling was shot dead July 5, 2016, outside the Triple S Food Mart. Sterling had long been known for selling compact discs in the area, and police said they approached him after receiving an anonymous phone call that someone matching Sterling's description had threatened the caller with a gun.

It was not clear whether Sterling was reaching for a gun during the scuffle with the officers. Mobile phone videos of the encounter were widely circulated but were inconclusive on whether Sterling was threatening the officers as he was pinned to the ground. Videos from fixed-position surveillance cameras and ones shot from car dashboards and police body cameras had not been released.

The Justice Department was planning in the next 24 hours to disclose its decision to end the investigation without charges, said
The Washington Post reported
, citing four unidentified people familiar with the matter. It will be the first time since Attorney General Jeff Sessions took office that the department has publicly declined to prosecute officers for possible wrongdoing in a high-profile case, said The Post, which was the first to disclose the agency's conclusion, followed by The Associated Press and The New York Times, also citing unidentified sources.

Edwards' office had no comment on the report. Nor did Landry, who said the Justice Department had not contacted him.

Attorneys for Sterling's family said his relatives have not been informed by the Justice Department of its decision. "We have been promised that we will meet in person with DOJ before any announcement is made," the attorneys said in a statement.

Salamoni's attorney, John McLindon, said he was aware of The Post's story. He would not comment on it until the Justice Department officially releases its report.

Several politicians were miffed that the Justice Department had not told Sterling's relatives and local officials about its decision. "I am appalled that this news, whether true or false, has been disseminated without a formal decision being relayed to the Sterling family first," Mayor Sharon Weston Broome said. "No one in my office or the governor's office has been notified by the U.S. attorney's office of a decision or timeline."

U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, whose district includes the site of Sterling's killing, said The Post report "completely undermines the credibility and transparency" of the Justice Department because the agency did not first tell Sterling's family and Louisiana officials. Richmond, a New Orleans Democrat, called that an "indictment" of the Justice Department.

State Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, expressed a similar view of the Justice Department, though in milder terms. "It certainly doesn't help with establishing trust," he said of the public learning of the decision from the news media. "This is more disappointing to the family. They didn't deserve to find out like this."

The Justice Department's conclusion is not likely to bring any solace to African American activists in Baton Rouge, a city that is sharply divided along racial lines and that has long struggled with issues surrounding segregation. In December, the city elected an African-American mayor, former state legislator Sharon Weston Broome, who pledged to overhaul the Police Department's use of force policies and remove its chief, Carl Dabadie.

While removing Dabadie has been easier said than done -- Weston Broome is struggling to overcome civil service law obstacles, The Advocate
has reported
-- the nonprofit Together Baton Rouge has been pushing for sweeping changes. In January, the group released a data analysis showing that Baton Rouge police have been disproportionately arresting African Americans on drug crimes for years, even though federal data shows they do not consume illegal drugs at higher rates than white people in the Baton Rouge.

"There is a powerfully different level of enforcement and arrest rate in our low-income, poorly educated different parts of town," said Broderick Bagert Jr., the executive director of Together Baton Rouge. In a report accompanying the data, the group said, "There is no rationale that can justify the fact that poor communities face exponentially higher levels of arrest for crimes committed at the same or lower rates."

In addition to the pressure applied by Together Baton Rouge and Weston Broome, Sterling's death brought another painful chapter for the Police Department. Two weeks after Sterling was killed, two Baton Rouge police officers and an East Baton Rouge deputy sheriff were fatally shot, and a fourth officer was critically wounded, by a
"lone wolf" gunman, Gavin Long.

The critically wounded officer's father, James Tullier, said Tuesday that the Sterling shooting was the catalyst for the subsequent attack on Baton Rouge law enforcement. Of Salamoni and Lake, he said, "I suspect they've been affected for the rest of their lives."

The federal investigation was launched by U.S. Attorney Walt Green, a Barack Obama appointee who resigned his position March 13 after Donald Trump became president, as is customary for political appointees. That left the federal prosecutor's office in Baton Rouge under the supervision of Green's first assistant, Corey Amundson. Trump has yet to appoint a successor.

It's not clear why the investigation took so long, but local officials have said that no matter the conclusion, it was unlikely to produce the type of consent decree that controls the practices of the
New Orleans Police Department
. Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has said he's not eager to investigate problems in local police departments, and Together Baton Rouge has said its report was written with that reluctance in mind.